“I have the utmost respect for Kyrie Irving, but y’all are delusional if you think this is a bad play, and id do it again”: Nassir Little claps back at accusations of having a malicious intent behind his collision with the Nets guard

Portland Trail Blazers forward Nassir Little responds to the allegations of performing a foul play on Kyrie Irving.

Monday night’s game saw a short-handed Trail Blazers defeat the Brooklyn Nets 114-108. The Blazers were without their backcourt, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, while the Nets had James Harden out due to a hyperextended knee. However, Kevin Durant had Kyrie Irving on the road.

Nonetheless, the talking point of the game was a controversial play involving Irving and Blazers forward Nassir Little. During the fourth quarter of the game, Irving tried to gather the ball from going out of bounds, followed by a sudden dive from Nassir, resulting in an ugly collision.

The Nets guard ended up rolling his left ankle. However, Irving would continue the game, addressing the fall during a post-match interview. The former champion had the following to say.

“It was an unnecessary play. I could’ve broke my ankle or done something worse. There’s just no place in our game for it. I get the intent from Nassir, but it could’ve been avoided.”

“It was an unnecessary play…I could’ve broke my ankle or done something worse. There’s just no place in our game for it. I get the intent from Nassir…but it could’ve been avoided”

Kyrie Irving speaks on the diving play by Nassir Little that twisted his ankle pic.twitter.com/h42SQZ23m6

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) January 11, 2022

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With social media quick to criticize the Blazers forward, Nassir took to Twitter to respond to allegations of dirty play levied against him.

Nassir Little addresses the controversial play involving him and Kyrie Irving.

It seems like Nassir had to bear some of the heat on social media following his ugly collision with Irving. The play had Irving land awkwardly, holding his ankle in pain. By the looks of it, the play seemed unnecessary on Nassir’s part.

The Blazers had a 5-point lead with almost 6-minutes remaining in the game. According to many netizens, there was no malicious intent behind the play, but rather careless. With the heat growing on him, Nassir took to Twitter to make his stance.

“I would never hurt someone on purpose, I have the utmost respect for Kyrie! But y’all are delusional if you think this is a bad play, and id do it again. Idgaf what y’all talkin about.”

I would never hurt someone on purpose, I have the utmost respect for Kyrie! But y’all are delusional if you think this is a bad play, and id do it again. Idgaf what y’all talkin about https://t.co/kcChvvupG4

— Nassir Little (@2ez_nassie) January 11, 2022

Fortunately, Irving recovered from the play quickly and ended the game with 22-points, 8-rebounds, and 4-assists. During the post-game media interaction, Irving confirmed that he would be playing the next game against the Bulls.

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